UNLABELLED Theme: Child protection and managing risk. AIM To describe ETS methods in Estonian NICUs. METHOD Research sample = 67% of Estonian NICU nurses. 2011 data: survey protocol, questionnaire. RESULTS Knowledge and experience on preparatory activity prior to suctioning varied: half carried out the appropriate hand hygiene; however, all put on gloves prior to suctioning. No one perfor...

BACKGROUND Critically ill patients who need mechanical ventilation require endotracheal suctioning. Guidelines recommend coarse crackles over the trachea and/or the presence of a sawtooth pattern on the flow-volume loop of the ventilator waveform as the best indicators. OBJECTIVE To determine clinical cues for endotracheal suctioning in patients who require mechanical ventilation. METHODS A...

Endotracheal suctioning is performed regularly in ventilated infants and children to remove obstructive secretions. The effect of suctioning on respiratory mechanics is not known. This study aimed to determine the immediate effect of endotracheal suctioning on dynamic lung compliance, tidal volume, and airway resistance in mechanically-ventilated paediatric patients by means of a prospective ob...

The purpose of this study was to compare the level of dyspnoea with and without the use of 5-cc saline instillation prior to endotracheal suctioning of mechanically ventilated adults. A crossover, quasi-experimental design was used. Seventeen alert, mechanically ventilated adults were asked to rank their level of dyspnoea using the vertical visual analogue scale at specific time intervals surro...

Secretion management in the mechanically ventilated patient includes routine methods for maintaining mucociliary function, as well as techniques for secretion removal. Humidification, mobilization of the patient, and airway suctioning are all routine procedures for managing secretions in the ventilated patient. Early ambulation of the post-surgical patient and routine turning of the ventilated ...

OBJECTIVE To provide physicians, physiotherapists, nurses and respiratory therapists with guidelines for the application of airway suctioning. DESIGN This clinical practice guideline was developed using the model by Browman and colleagues. A working group of representatives from four professional colleges (nurses, physicians and surgeons, physiotherapists and respiratory therapists) and resea...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether using a standard method of endotracheal suctioning, to ensure consistent use of available knowledge, had any impact on patient care. Using experimental study design, the results of two different methods of suctioning in a cardiovascular surgery intensive care unit were compared. One method was the suctioning procedure applied by the nurses work...